I will visit the library (old school) with a list. Books I’ve heard about, authors I like and intent to browse a little. This novel I think I chose from a display of award winning novels.
The Vignes twin sisters grow up in a southern black community where there might as well be a sign “light skin only” The size and remote location serve as an enclave from most cultural clashes. Yet racism, division and violence are still real threats.
The sisters are inseparable until they decide to run away. One reinvents herself as white. Their paths diverge completely, with few parallels. As part of Stella’s reinvention, she washes away any connection to her old life. Leaving not a word or a clue to her loving and close family.
The story is expertly told through the point of view of multiple characters. We hear from her sister Desiree and other surrounding characters before moving on to Stella’s story. A familiar literary device, however fresh and mesmerizing here. The events span from the 1940s to the 1990s. Each twin has a daughter who are unknown to their aunts or cousins. This next generation feels an absence of people they have never known while haltingly, and at times blindly healing the inexplicable holes in their lives.
Times, places and inner dialogues are vivid and accessible without beatinf the reader with long distracting pretenious paragraphs.
This is a story about the divide between black and white. The fear of exposure is as real as the fear of familiarity. Themes of identity, love, secrets, disappointment and acceptance thread through the stories of all the characters. Can we run away from ourselves? Can we run away from the judgement and expectations of our society? Does each generation wrestle with the need for hidden lives?
I would have loved the character arcs to be tied up in a neater bow, however that is not how life works. The good intentions and imperfections of the twins and their extended family are part of the realism.
“There were many ways to be alienated from someone, few to actually belong.’
Strong Recommend. Brit Bennett is a new author for me and I will look for her previous book “The Mothers”
